AI-based Egg Tech Specialist FarmConnect, Expanding K-Agriculture Solutions Overseas

AI-based agtech specialist company FarmConnect Co., Ltd. (CEO Mu-Hyun Kim) announced that it has developed a solution that automates data analysis necessary for smart agriculture, enabling the overseas expansion of K-agriculture solutions.

The solution developed by FarmConnect features real-time notifications to farmers about crop abnormalities and farm environment action items, which can improve production by more than 30%. Although the analysis solution is provided to farms, the service cost is paid by agricultural technology centers, representing a new business model.

Currently, the solution is actively provided to farms nationwide through seven agricultural technology centers (Chungnam Buyeo, Cheongyang, Gongju, Dangjin, Gwangju Metropolitan City, Gangwon Hoengseong, and Gwangju Metropolitan City, with a farm population of about 130,000). In particular, an annual subscription service model has been launched and is currently used by two agricultural institutions, with plans to expand the subscription service nationwide in 2023.

Based on this technology, FarmConnect has expanded K-agriculture solutions overseas. On April 12, at the ‘Korea-Azerbaijan Smart Farm Partnering’ event hosted by the KOTRA Baku Trade Center (Director Gye-Kwon Jo), FarmConnect, representing Korea, donated agricultural solutions and equipment to the local Karabakh region. The President of the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency attended the event and pledged full support for Korean agricultural companies entering the local market.

[▲At the Korea-Azerbaijan Smart Farm Partnering event, FarmConnect, the Korean representative, donated agricultural solutions and equipment.]

The Azerbaijani government is focusing its utmost efforts on the Karabakh region reconstruction project following the war. Taking this donation ceremony as an opportunity, FarmConnect plans to establish a foothold for participation in the Karabakh reconstruction and smart farm development projects. Based on domestic experience, it will disseminate data-driven agricultural technology in the Azerbaijani region and unveil a business model that leads to exports to neighboring countries.

Additionally, FarmConnect signed an agreement with the local Livestock Science Research Institute (HETI) under the Ministry of Agriculture to jointly develop and advance AI-based pollinator bee activity analysis technology. The ‘AI-based bee activity solution’ technology, which monitors bee activity in real time, will be provided to the Livestock Science Research Institute, where field trials of digital beehives equipped with the solution will be conducted locally. In particular, based on this digital beehive technology, plans are underway to expand into the beekeeping and bee breeding markets, with the technology expected to create a new export industry in Azerbaijan.

Director Gye-Kwon Jo of the KOTRA Baku Trade Center, which supports Korean companies’ entry into the Azerbaijani market, stated, “The Azerbaijani government is making significant investments to improve the productivity of its agriculture as part of industrial diversification efforts to move away from an oil-centered industrial structure. The local market is in great need of Korea’s advanced agricultural technology. We at the Baku Trade Center will collaborate with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture to provide our utmost support so that our agricultural companies can use Azerbaijan as a stepping stone to expand into neighboring countries such as T?rkiye and even Europe.”